The Punishment
by Casteline
Summary: His mother's words rung in his mind. "God will punish you." Was that what this was? Was he finally being punished?


_Almost crossover with Good Omens. Oh, who am I kidding, it is. But you have to think of time as a big ball of timey wimey, wibbly wobbly stuff, or it doesn't make sense. It can also be seen as Bobby/Crowley, if your brain makes weird jumps like mine does. Mostly its just weird Bobby goodness._

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**The Punishment**

When Bobby Singer first arrived in Heaven, he didn't think much of it. There was a cloud in his head, as if he was drugged. Maybe it was because hunters were notorious for trying (and mostly succeeding) in escaping their own personal heavens. Or maybe it was standard for everyone, so no one had an "OH MY GOD I'M DEAD" sort of freak out. Maybe the hazy veil was there to keep everyone calm and happy.

Bobby Singer wasn't one for calm and happy. He didn't know how long he was there before the fog wore away, but the moment he was able to think clearly, he got to work on finding a way out.

"What are you doing, Mr. Singer?" a slow, deep voice asked him. Bobby turned to face the angel who'd invaded his heaven.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked.

"I am here," the angel said. "To extend an offer." Bobby got the distinct impression that the angel did not want to be there, but was under orders he could not refuse.

"And what makes you think you have anything to offer me?"

"Because you hate it here, and I can get you out."

Bobby was skeptical. What kind of offer could they have? What would he have to do?

"We would like you to join the ranks of angels."

"You… what?"

"My superiors wish to give you the opportunity to become an angel."

Bobby just stared at him for a moment. At first glance, the offer seemed insane. But after a moment of though, it made sense, didn't it? If a human could become a demon, it made sense that they could become an angel just the same.

"Why the hell would you offer something like that?" he questioned.

"Our numbers are dwindling," the angel said. "Many have died in recent days."

"So you're trying to find a few replacements. Why the hell would you want me? This may have escaped your notice, but I don't exactly see eye to eye with you folks."

"The views of Heaven are shifting," the angel drawled. "Many of those who remain are beginning to see in a different light. Though some of their actions are greatly frowned upon, Gabriel, Anna, and Castiel have paved the way into a new regime." Cas' choice to swallow up purgatory. Gabriel's trickster days. Were the angels really able to look past those mistakes and see that the rebel angels were right? Bobby and the Winchesters had been able to forgive, but were angels capable of that?

"Why _me_?" Bobby asked. "Surely there are hundreds of other you could ask." Others who did not share his dislike for the angels, no matter if they had 'changed their ways'.

"Because you are smart," the angel replied. "The choice is yours, Mr. Singer. Join us. Or stay here."

It felt like making a deal with a demon. No. He'd made a deal with the King of Hell. This felt worse. To choose between his prison in Heaven, or to become and angel. It wasn't a simple choice. Neither option would have a pleasant outcome. His mother's words rung in his mind. _God will punish you_. Was that what this was? Was he finally being punished?

In the end, he chose to become an angel. At least then he could do something, rather than just rot away.

He expected the transition from human to angel to be a painful one. Excruciating, even. But it wasn't. It didn't hurt at all. It felt…

Enlightening.

The process took a long time. Days, weeks, months, years, he didn't know. When he was complete, he didn't feel like an angel. Not what he expected an angel to feel like. And yet, he didn't feel human either.

"I made sure to leave out a few bits of the angel package," a familiar voice said to him. Bobby turned.

"Gabriel," he said, surprised. He was vaguely aware that they were speaking enochian, and that, while he was immediately able to recognize the angel, it wasn't his vessel he was seeing, but his true form.

"In the flesh. So to speak. Didn't expect to see me here, did ya, bucko?" the archangel said, munching on a candy cane. "Who do you think sprung you from your little corner of Heaven?"

"_You?_"

"Yes siree, Bob. Hey, that actually works, because your name is Bob."

"We thought you were dead."

"That was the idea, wasn't it? So long as you all believed it, so would Lucy and all of Heaven, leaving me to do as I pleased. Unfortunately, they did catch up with me, eventually. I thought for sure they were gonna kill me, but, low and behold, they promoted me."

"Promoted you?"

"All the way to the top of the latter, actually. Apparently I did something right, in Daddy's eyes. With Raphael dead and Michael on time out for the next 3000 years or so, only one Archangel left. Hell of a welcome back, isn't it, handing all of Heaven over to me."

"If you're alive, does that mean…"

Gabriel sighed. "Follow me," he said. A few moments later, they were in what Bobby could only describe as the angel equivalent of a laboratory. And right in the center of it, Bobby immediately recognized Castiel. Not his vessel, not Jimmy Novak, but the real Cas. He was bloodied and broken. One of his wings had been torn clear from the rest of him, and several limbs were nearly as bad. It looked impossible that he might even be alive.

"He is alive," Gabriel said. "Angels aren't like humans, you have to remember that. But he isn't in good shape. I've got our best people working on it, but it's going to be a long, slow process. Many believe it isn't worth it, that we should just put him out of his misery. I won't do it though. When he's better, I'm assigning him as my right hand. Ain't no one in the 'verse I'd rather have."

It was a long time before Cas was whole again, before he woke up, before he was well enough to rejoin the other Angels. When he does, Bobby has already integrated into their society. He's helped the angels rebuild. The revolution was over. Most of the angels had come to see the error of their ways, and were once again united against the real evils.

They don't call him Bobby anymore. Cas does. Gabriel calls him 'The Ornery Old Drunk', though its impossible to get drunk, and sometimes 'Bob'. But the angels have a new name for him.

Aziraphale.


End file.
